Metal = Color in Your Wine

We learn more about wine every day. And I mean that in both the immediate and the global sense of things. I know I am learning more about wine every day, but increasingly the scientific community is also delving into the mysteries of wine. Here's a recent study which, though poorly reported on in this article, sounds really interesting. Scientists have started to understand the correlations between metal content in the soil, the resulting biochemistry of the grapes grown in it, and the subsequent color extraction that is possible in the wine. What's most interesting to me about this study is that instead of being about certain metals leading to deep colors, these scientists have actually correlated certain metals with certain hues in the resulting wine. In particular, they found a correllation between a higher content of iron in the seeds of the grape, and the more bluish tones of the resulting wine. If the article were written a bit better I might be able to understand more of what they were measuring, but the notion is enticing.

We learn more about wine every day. And I mean that in both the immediate and the global sense of things. I know I am learning more about wine every day, but increasingly the scientific community is also delving into the mysteries of wine. Here's a recent study which, though poorly reported on in this article, sounds really interesting. Scientists have started to understand the correlations between metal content in the soil, the resulting biochemistry of the grapes grown in it, and the subsequent color extraction that is possible in the wine. What's most interesting to me about this study is that instead of being about certain metals leading to deep colors, these scientists have actually correlated certain metals with certain hues in the resulting wine. In particular, they found a correllation between a higher content of iron in the seeds of the grape, and the more bluish tones of the resulting wine. If the article were written a bit better I might be able to understand more of what they were measuring, but the notion is enticing.